HYBRID STRUCTURES HOLLOW CORE SLABS AND CHALLENGING ARCHITECTURE

New building materials and new construction technologies make the building industry today look different from the one of some years ago. Structural steel, reinforced and pre-cast concrete are now common and compete with each other on the construction market. Joining forces, seeking synergy rather than confrontation, is the emergent trend. The result of this trend is the growing number of hybrid structures in the today's daily building practice. Hybrid or mixed construction with pre-cast concrete means combined use of pre-cast concrete with other materials, such as steelwork, timber, cast in situ concrete and glass, for the benefit of the whole. In The Netherlands two recent examples of the above development are the office tower “Malietoren”, constructed over the motorway entering the city of The Hague and the 100 m high sloping office tower “Belvedere”, in Rotterdam, where the ambitions of the architect Renzo Piano to make appealing but still market price competitive building were made possible because of hybrid structure. The considered concepts, alternatives, final solutions and detailing of these two architecturally appealing buildings are dealt with in this paper, to illustrate this new development. Development, in which environmental considerations and pre-cast concrete hollow core slabs are playing an important role.

• INTRODUCTION

• OFFICE TOWER “MALIETOREN”, THE HAGUE

• REFERENCES